July and August

I feel like this summer went by so fast!  We did manage to squeeze in a lot of things and have lots of fun!  This post is mainly pictures of everything we've been doing.

My girls LOVE babies and it was so nice of both my sisters to each have one!  Ava especially spent a lot of time this summer in this position - laying on the floor admiring a baby.

My sisters husband has tried so hard to get my girls to come to him!  My girls take awhile to warm up to people so it was a big task.  But he finally got Mia to the point where she would let him hold her!  I was very impressed.

I have spent a lot of time this summer trying to figure out how to take care of this girls hair.  It was a bit of a learning curve but I'm slowly figuring it out!  The thing I've learned most is that curly hair on a toddler looks good for about 20 minutes before they start throwing blankets on their heads or rolling on the ground and it goes back to being an afro.  I took this picture right after I did her hair in the morning to prove it does look nice at least once during the day!

My mom made all these dresses!  We had to get a picture of them together!

After the girls got off Asher jumped on the couch and said "My turn!"

I left the room for 3 minutes. They can be very mischievous sometimes!

We spent a lot of time at the library this summer doing the summer reading program.  Asher is such a good brother and spent much of this trip playing with the girls!

This is my life.  All the time.  If I ever sit down I always have children plop down on top of me.  But it's ok because they're cute. ;)

She's such a girly girl!

They do this all the time!  They love to hug and cuddle with each other.

Hammock in our backyard!

She's quirky and I love it!

My brother (who lives in Florida) and his family came to visit!  His wife, Keny, is amazing.  I told David that I forgot that she's a better mom to my kids than I am because she's always getting them snacks and toys and taking care of them.  Here she is giving Mia a manicure on our girls night!

T-ball again this summer!  There were a lot of problems with the league he was in that they sent an email out saying it would be better next year. But I think this was our last time with t-ball for Asher.  He didn't really like it and I'd rather he do things he loves like swimming or soccer. But he finished out the season and didn't quit which is really all I wanted him to learn!

Swimming at Grandma's house.  We learned this summer that Ava is a little fish and could spend all of her days in the pool.

Again, she's quirky and I love it!  She loves hats and will wear hats even to the library.  In the summer.  In 90+ degree heat.

Asher did have a birthday but I'm going to make another post about that next!  We went on our annual Mitchell Family camping trip!  We went to Downata, ID again this year.  It's kind of nice because it's right next to a swimming pool so we don't really get bored because we spend half the day swimming!  This trip went better than the last 2 years.  Last year we had moved into our house less than a week before so my kids were all very unsettled and running on no sleep before we even got to camp.  We only stayed one night.  The year before my girls were only 3 months old and I was exclusively nursing them so I spent all my time nursing.  The girls actually did really well that year!  But it's just hard to do a lot of the camping stuff when you have babies that young.  So this year was fun because the girls were both walking, when we went swimming they could swim on their own with the puddle jumpers, and they didn't need to have someone holding them 24/7!  They even slept pretty well in the tent, although that first night was definitely play night and they both had David and I laughing pretty good!  We all had fun during the trip and am looking forward to next year!

They're buds. ;)

Ava was very tired!  Grandma is the best person to sleep on.

Don't mind how gross we all look...This was on the last day!

Grandma's hammock is always so much fun!

There were always multiple kids in there!

Like really!

They kept dragging chairs all over camp and have these little conferences.  It was super cute.

Asher had his birthday at camp!  He didn't mind though.  He had been looking forward to this camping trip all year long, swimming is one of his favorite activities, and he got to play with his cousins all day!

My baby is 6!

I like these three.

Hammock again.

Grandma brought a painting activity for the kids and these girls loved it!

Playing Go Fish wish a bunch of 4-6 year olds.

He's cute.

The only other picture David would let me take of him.

Mia spent her days just wandering around camp.  I like her.

Having another conference.

David's brother blessed his baby the day before school started, so we made a quick trip to Utah to see them!  It was fun seeing them again (I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving).  They have a very cute little baby boy and my kids were all super excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Clay!  Ava especially loved having them here.  She sat on their laps all through church and kept waving at Grandma all through the luncheon. 

David holding little Eli.

Grandma with Eli!

Asher started 1st grade!  I used to think that people my age who had kids in elementary school seemed so much older than me.  And now I'm there!  He was a little sad because his two good friends that are in our ward and that were both in his Kindergarten class are in the other 1st grade class.  But we had met his teacher at Back to School Night and she was so nice and I think that helped Asher get more excited for school.  He was also super excited to use his lunchbox Uncle Brian gave him (like 2 years ago) and to eat lunch at the school.  It has been kind of a hard week with him transitioning to all day school.  I can tell when he gets home that he's just mentally drained and it takes him awhile after he gets home before his mood levels out.  But it's getting better and he really loves class!  And he's finding friends in his class that he eats lunch with and plays with at recess so I think that's helping too.  He's a great kid who loves learning and I hope he's always this excited about school!

1st day of school picture!

This shows his personality.

Yes I was one of those mom's in the courtyard waiting with my kid before his teacher took him inside.  And I'm not ashamed of it!  There were about 50 parents of 1st graders, a few of 2nd graders, but I guess by 3rd grade you figure your kid has it down because I didn't seen hardly any parents from 3rd-6th grade!  Oh well.  I was so glad to see Asher walk into school smiling and not one bit nervous.  He didn't even look back at me!  He's made so much progress and it really makes me proud!